Preparation and characterization of super hydrophobic aerogels derived from tunicate cellulose nanocrystals

First time aerogels composite with super hydrophobic properties were developed by using tunicate cellulose nanocrystals (TCNC), which expanded the application scope of animal cellulose resources. In this study, the TCNC was firstly cross-linked with silica and methyltrimethylsilane (MTMS), further coated with fluorodopa to form an aerogel with super hydrophobic properties. The aerogel was characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectra (FT-IR), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Results indicated that the contact angle of aerogel was 158.7°, which showed good hydrophobicity. The composite aerogel has superior stability in wide pH range, after 72 h immersion in pH = 0 and 12 solutions, the contact angle was still greater than 150°. The aerogel shows excellent oil-water separation ability and it can be repeatedly used more than 10 times. The separation efficiency can all reach more than 90% for different water-oil mixtures. This synthesized super hydrophobic aerogels derived from tunicate cellulose has greatly extended the application of marine animal celluloses.